2 Kingschapter 5
27 verses · Jeremiah, by tradition · 6th century BC · History
Now Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man in his master’s sight and highly regarded, for through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. And he was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.
Introduction
Jeremiah, by tradition, History, 2 Kings Overview.
This chapter carries the prophet's word across the border to an enemy commander, and Jesus named it in the synagogue at Nazareth. Its first hearers lived under yearly raids from Aram and assumed God's mercy stopped at Israel's edge. A captive girl, a proud general, two kings and a greedy servant each have a part. Listen for the gap between what the great man expects and the plain instruction he is given. Listen also for what he asks to carry home afterwards. The ending turns the story back on Israel itself.
Context
- Who
- Israelites who assumed God's mercy stopped at their own border
- What
- An account of Naaman, commander of Aram's army, healed of his skin disease through Elisha, and of Gehazi, who takes payment for it.
- Where
- Damascus, the court of Israel at Samaria, Elisha's house, and the Jordan River.
- When
- The ministry of Elisha during the wars with Aram, about 850 BC.
- Why
- To show that the God of Israel is God over all the earth, and that His gifts are not for sale.
Historical context
Naaman commands the army of the kingdom that raids Israel every year, and the girl who tells his wife about the prophet is a captive taken in one of those raids. Her position in that house is the whole of the chapter's irony, since a slave from the losing side hands the winning side the cure.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The skin disease named here covers a family of conditions rather than only the disease that carries the name today. Israel's law put a person with it outside the camp and outside worship until a priest declared them clean, which is why the condition mattered so much in Israel, and in Aram it clearly did not bar a man from high command, the shame there being social rather than ceremonial.
The diplomacy goes wrong because of how it is done, since a letter from king to king with ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten changes of clothing is a state-level payment, and the king of Israel tears his clothes because he reads it as a pretext for war, since nobody sends that much for something you cannot deliver.
Naaman's anger is about rivers and about dignity. The Abana and Pharpar ran clear and cold out of the mountains behind Damascus, and the Jordan in its lower reaches is a muddy stream in a hot valley. He expected the prophet to come out and perform a ritual, a waving of the hand and a calling on the name, rather than send a servant with an instruction. What he asks for afterward is telling: two mule-loads of Israelite soil, because he intends to build an altar to the God of Israel on Israelite ground in Damascus, and an exemption for the times he must support the king's arm in Rimmon's temple. Gehazi's greed and its punishment close the chapter by moving the disease from the foreigner to the insider.
Significance
The line the first hearers would repeat is Naaman's: now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel. It comes out of the mouth of an enemy general.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
They would also feel the sting of the ending. The Aramean goes home clean and worshipping, and the prophet's own servant, who had everything and lied for money, walks out white as snow.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
Part of this chapter is heard in the synagogue once a year, beside the portion that opens the Torah's law of skin disease. The reading begins at the end of the chapter before it and runs into this one, and it belongs to both rites. The card above prints the portion and the extent from the site's own reading table, so they are left unrepeated here.
One thing about that extent is worth a reader's attention, because it shapes what a congregation actually hears. The reading stops at Naaman's departure in peace. The account of Gehazi, who runs after the Syrian, takes the payment his master refused and carries away the disease, falls after the last verse of the reading and is therefore not read on that sabbath. A Christian reader who knows this chapter as one unit ending in judgment should know that the synagogue's yearly hearing of it ends with a Gentile general confessing the God of Israel and going home. The source of this paragraph is the site's reading table at src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, and the classical commentators on the Gehazi verses are still set out below, because a reader who reaches this chapter through the site reads the whole of it.
How it is read
The corpus keeps eighteen notes on this chapter, all of them Rashi in the Metsudah Tanach translation of Lakewood, New Jersey, under a CC-BY licence. He opens by placing the chapter inside the book's design, saying that Scripture goes on here listing the miracles performed through Elisha (Rashi on II Kings 5:1:1), which is the same reckoning he set out at the head of chapter 3. The raiding party that carried off the girl he defines as a term of size and purpose, a band of one hundred or two hundred going out on their own to plunder what they find (Rashi on II Kings 5:2:1). The girl's words to her mistress Rashi reads as a request for prayer rather than for a procedure, taking the verb as the one used of Moses praying, so that the supplications of all who pray for the man will bring the miracle about before the prophet (Rashi on II Kings 5:3:1).
The approach to the king and the prophet is read in short glosses. What Naaman took in his hand Rashi names as a present for the prophet (Rashi on II Kings 5:5:1). The king's cry Rashi settles as a grammatical matter, that the vowel marks it as a question (Rashi on II Kings 5:7:1). Naaman's anger at the Jordan Rashi explains from the man's own expectation, that he thought the prophet would come out, speak with him and look at the ailment (Rashi on II Kings 5:11:1). The servants' address to their master Rashi reads as a title of rank, the word for father standing in for the word for master, and he points at a place in Genesis where the same title is used of a prominent man (Rashi on II Kings 5:13:1).
The confession and the refusal of payment carry the weight of the chapter, and the tradition's reading of Naaman's standing afterwards is where a Christian reader should sit longest. The gift Naaman presses on the prophet Rashi reads as a greeting gift, of the kind a student or a servant offers on greeting his master, and he gives the Old French word for it. The Metsudah footnote to that note states the tradition's account of what Naaman became, that he lived as a righteous gentile keeping the seven commandments given to Noah and his descendants, and that he did not convert, citing the tractate Gittin (Rashi on II Kings 5:15:1). That is a category the Church does not use, and the difference is worth naming at the point of contact: a Christian reading takes Naaman's confession as faith in the God of Israel that makes him one people with Israel, and the classical Jewish reading keeps him a Gentile who keeps the commandments binding on the sons of Noah and leaves the covenant of Israel where it stood. Both readings hold that the man went home believing, and the difference is in what his believing made him.
Elisha's refusal of the money Rashi explains by the source of it, that monies pertaining to idols are included in it (Rashi on II Kings 5:16:1). Naaman's request for earth Rashi reads as a plea, and the footnote adds Radak's observation that the man would take no small amount of earth without asking permission (Rashi on II Kings 5:17:1). The house the Syrian must still enter with his master Rashi names as a pagan deity (Rashi on II Kings 5:18:1). The distance Naaman had gone Rashi treats as a fixed land measure, with the footnote giving Radak's figure of a mile and an Old French word beside it (Rashi on II Kings 5:19:1).
The Gehazi verses are read as a case of measure for measure, and Rashi finds it in the spelling. The word Gehazi uses for the something he means to take is written short of one letter, and Rashi reads the shortened form as the word for a flaw, so that the taking is written into the disease that follows (Rashi on II Kings 5:20:1). Naaman getting down from the chariot Rashi renders through Targum Jonathan as leaning over, pointing at the same expression used of Rebekah (Rashi on II Kings 5:21:1). Naaman's word at the handover Rashi reads as a demand for an oath, with the Metsudah footnote explaining that Naaman asked him to swear because he did not believe Elisha had changed his mind, and giving Metzudat Tzion's alternative that the word means agree (Rashi on II Kings 5:23:1). The place Gehazi hid the goods Rashi renders through Targum Jonathan as a hidden place, with Radak's alternative of a stronghold in the footnote (Rashi on II Kings 5:24:1). Two further notes are one line each, on who came at the fourth verse (Rashi on II Kings 5:4:1) and on the wording of the letter at the sixth (Rashi on II Kings 5:6:1).
Six further notes stand on this chapter with no English text in the corpus and are cited here unquoted. They are Metzudat David on II Kings 5:8:1, 5:10:1 and 5:14:1, Radak on II Kings 5:9:1 and 5:12:1, and Malbim on II Kings 5:22:1. The dipping itself at the fourteenth verse, which is the centre of the chapter, carries a linked note of Metzudat David and no kept text, so the classical reading of the moment of cleansing has to be followed out through that link.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators on this chapter, thirty-two Midrash and eight Talmud, and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. Naaman himself draws Bamidbar Rabbah 7:5, Midrash Aggadah, Leviticus 13:2:11 and Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Metzora 10:3, and two of those three sit in expositions of the Torah's law of skin disease, which is the pairing the synagogue makes when it reads this chapter beside that portion. The captive girl draws Chullin 5a:5, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sotah 9:6 and Sifrei Zuta 27:1:1, and her words draw Nedarim 40a:6, which is the tractate about vows and about visiting the sick.
The king of Israel tearing his clothes draws Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 21:13, Midrash Lekach Tov on Lamentations 3:65:1 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Numbers 11:1:1. Elisha's message to the king draws Ein Yaakov, Nedarim 4:4. Naaman's anger draws Midrash Lekach Tov, Genesis 28:11:1, Midrash Lekach Tov, Genesis 49:1:2 and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 49:27:3, and his praise of the rivers of Damascus draws Midrash Lekach Tov on Lamentations 2:15:1. The servants' appeal draws Bamidbar Rabbah 14:1.
The cleansing and the confession carry the next run. Devarim Rabbah 10:3 stands over the fourteenth and fifteenth verses together, and the confession itself draws Devarim Rabbah 2:28, Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Amalek 3:42 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Exodus 18:11:2. The last two of those expound Jethro's confession at Sinai, so the tradition reads this Gentile's words beside that Gentile's words. Elisha's refusal draws Bamidbar Rabbah 10:5, Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 10:2:25 and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 18:23:2. The two mule loads of earth draw Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 11:25:11, Sifrei Devarim 52:4 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 875:1, all three of which expound the holiness of the land. The house of Rimon draws Ein Yaakov, Sanhedrin 8:11, Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 3:5:11 and Jerusalem Talmud Sheviit 4:2:6, and the going in peace draws Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 35:16:2 and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 48:7:1.
Gehazi draws the last nine, and the tradition treats him as a standing example rather than as one man's lapse. His resolve draws Avot DeRabbi Natan, Recension B 43:9, and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sotah 1:19 stands over the whole of verses 20 to 27. The taking of the silver draws Arakhin 16a:8, which is the tractate where the causes of skin disease are set out, and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 11:107 stands over verses 23 to 27. His answer to his master draws Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 29:4:3, and Elisha's word that his heart went with the man draws Kohelet Rabbah 1:16:1 and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 30:15:1. The disease passing to him and to his descendants draws Avot DeRabbi Natan 9:3 and Otzar Midrashim, Baraita of Rabbi Pinchas Ben Yair 1:23. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: The site's reading table, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, the Tazria entry and its haftarah field, printed in this lane through haftarahUsesForChapter and hasSynagogueReading; Rashi, Rashi on II Kings 5:1:1 to 5:24:1, eighteen notes, the Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J, CC-BY; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on II Kings 5:8:1, 5:10:1 and 5:14:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Radak, Radak on II Kings 5:9:1 and 5:12:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; and reported inside the Metsudah footnotes at 5:17:1, 5:19:1 and 5:24:1; Malbim, Malbim on II Kings 5:22:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Metsudah footnote at 5:15:1, Rashi on II Kings 5:15:1, the Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J, CC-BY, citing Maseches Gittin 57b for Naaman as a righteous gentile under the seven commandments of the sons of Noah; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/2-kings/5.json, the 40 rabbinic locators of this chapter, 32 Midrash and 8 Talmud.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A little captive maid points a great man to Samaria
2 Kings 5:1-3
the commander of the army of the king of Aram: Naaman is commander of Aram's army, and the text credits his victories to the LORD, who “had given victory to Aram”. The report turns on one clause, “but he was a leper”. Jesus names Naaman at Luke 4:27 as the one leper cleansed in Elisha's day.
2 Kings 5:1
“Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master--highly esteemed for his military character and success. and honourable--rather, "very rich." but he was a leper--This leprosy, which, in Israel, would have excluded him from society, did not affect his free intercourse in the court of Syria.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
2 Kings 5:1
“By him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria - An Assyrian monarch had pushed his conquests as far as Syria exactly at this period, bringing into subjection all the kings of these parts. But Syria revolted after a few years and once more made herself independent. It was probably in this war of independence that Naaman had distinguished himself. But he was a leper - leprosy admitted of various kinds and degrees Lev. 13; 14 Some of the lighter forms would not incapacitate a man from discharging the duties of a courtier and warrior.”
had gone out in bands: Adam Clarke gives the Hebrew for the bands as gedudim, raiding troops sent out to seize grain, cattle and people fit to be slaves. John Gill adds that boys and girls were part of such plunder and could be sold for money. She entered Naaman's house as plunder.
2 Kings 5:2
“The Syrians had gone out by companies - גדודים gedudim, troops. When one hundred or two hundred men go out by themselves to make prey of whatever they can get, that is called, says Jarchi, גדוד gedud, a troop. They had gone out in marauding parties; and on such occasions they bring away grain, cattle, and such of the inhabitants as are proper to make slaves. A little maid - Who, it appears, had pious parents, who brought her up in the knowledge of the true God.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The girl's If only renders a Hebrew wish, which Adam Clarke gives as achaley. The Chaldee, Syriac and Arabic versions expand it into happy would it be for my master. Clarke saw providence at work in her captivity.
2 Kings 5:3
“Would God my lord - אחלי achaley, I wish; or, as the Chaldee, Syrian, and Arabic have, “Happy would it be for my master if he were with the prophet,” etc. Here the mystery of the Divine providence begins to develop itself. By the captivity of this little maid, one Syrian family at least, and that one of the most considerable in the Syrian empire, is brought to the knowledge of the true God.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 Kings 5:4-6
Naaman went and told his master: The report climbs from a servant girl to Naaman to the king of Aram, who answers with a state letter. The letter goes to the king of Israel and not to the prophet, as if the cure lay in a king's gift.
2 Kings 5:4
“Thus and thus said the maid - So well had this little pious maid conducted herself, that her words are credited; and credited so fully, that an embassy from the king of Syria to the king of Israel is founded upon them!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
six thousand shekels of gold: Albert Barnes notes that coined money reached Judea only in the time of Cyrus. Naaman's six thousand shekels were gold carried in bars. Portions were cut from the bars and weighed when a payment was made.
2 Kings 5:5
“Six thousand pieces of gold - Rather, “six thousand shekels of gold.” Coined money did not exist as yet, and was not introduced into Judea until the time of Cyrus. Gold was carried in bars, from which portions were cut when need arose, and the value was ascertained by weighing.”
so that you may cure him: Albert Barnes gives the Hebrew literally as and you shall cure him. The king of Aram presumed that if Israel held a cure for leprosy, its own king would know how to obtain it. The letter leaves the method to him.
2 Kings 5:6
“That thou mayest recover him - literally, “And thou shalt recover him.” The Syrian king presumes that, if there is a cure for leprosy to be had in Israel, the mode of obtaining it will be well known to his royal brother.”
The king of Israel tears his clothes. His question echoes Deut 32:39 and 1 Sam 2:6, where killing and making alive belong to the Lord alone. He rightly denies himself an office no king holds, even while missing that a prophet of that Lord is living inside his own kingdom.
2 Kings 5:7
“He rent his clothes - The action indicated alarm and terror quite as much as sorrow 2Sa 13:19; Ezr 9:3; 2Ch 34:27; Jer 36:22. Consider, I pray you - Jehoram speaks to his chief officers, and bids them mark the animus of the Syrian monarch. Compare the conduct of Ahab 1Ki 20:7.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 5:7
“This explains Jehoram's burst of emotion--not horror at supposed blasphemy, but alarm and suspicion that this was merely made an occasion for a quarrel. Such a prince as he was would not readily think of Elisha, or, perhaps, have heard of his miraculous deeds. ELISHA SENDS HIM TO JORDAN, AND HE IS HEALED.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Wash seven times: and flesh like a little child's
2 Kings 5:8-9
Elisha sends word requiring nothing, only that Naaman come to him, so that the king may know a prophet answers where a king cannot. Naaman arrives in full state and stops at the door of a house rather than a palace, the first small demotion of a proud man.
2 Kings 5:8
“And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes,....”
2 more voices on this verse
2 Kings 5:8
He shall know ... Israel - namely, “That which thou (the king of Israel) appearest to have forgotten, that there is a prophet - a real Yahweh prophet - in Israel.”
2 Kings 5:8
“Let him come now to me - Do not be afflicted; the matter belongs to me, as the prophet of the Most High; send him to me, and he shall know that I am such.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
stood at the door: John Gill reads the horses and chariots as a large retinue, brought for Naaman's own grandeur and as an honour to the prophet. Gill takes Elisha to be living at Gilgal, where 2 Kings 4:38 last placed him. Naaman sent word in and waited for an answer.
2 Kings 5:9
“So Naaman came with his horses, and with his chariot,.... In his chariot drawn by horses; or "with horsemen and chariots", a great retinue, both for his own grandeur, and for the honour of the prophet, and to make him the more respectable by him: and stood at the door of the house of Elisha; who now dwelt at Gilgal, as is probable, see 2Ki 4:38, hither Naaman was directed, and here he stopped; and having sent a messenger to Elisha to acquaint him who he was, and what was his business, he stayed waiting for an answer.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 5:9
“The promise was express: Thou shalt be clean. The method prescribed was plain: Go wash in Jordan. This was not intended as any means of the cure; for, though cold bathing is recommended by many as a very wholesome thing, yet some think that in the case of a leprosy it was rather hurtful.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Elisha does not come out. He sends a messenger, “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan”, with no rite, no touch and no word spoken over Naaman. The great man receives the prophet's word through a servant, and that distance is part of what humbles him.
2 Kings 5:10
“Sent a messenger - Did not come out to speak with him: he had got his orders from God, and he transmitted them to Naaman by his servant. Wash in Jordan seven times - The waters of Jordan had no tendency to remove this disorder but God chose to make them the means by which he would convey his healing power. He who is the author of life, health, and salvation, has a right to dispense, convey, and maintain them, by whatsoever means he pleases.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
2 Kings 5:10
“But in addition, that we may accept the interpretation of the Jordan, that river that is so fresh and grants so much grace, it is useful to present both Naaman the Syrian, who was cleansed from leprosy, and the comments made about the rivers by the enemies of religion. It is written of Naaman, therefore: "He came with his horse and chariot and stood at the doors of the house of Elisha.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Commentary on the Gospel of John 6.242-45patristic
2 Kings 5:10
“Elisha sent - Which he did, partly, to exercise Naaman's faith and obedience: partly, for the honour of his religion, that it might appear he sought not his own glory and profit, but only God's honour, and the good of men.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 Kings 5:11-12
Naaman went away angry: Naaman had pictured the prophet coming to “stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the spot”. He asks whether “the Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus” are not better, measuring water against water when the cure lay in the word.
2 Kings 5:11
“He will surely come out to me - In the East a code of unwritten laws prescribes exactly how visits are to be paid, and how visitors are to be received, according to the worldly rank of the parties (compare 2Ki 5:21). No doubt, according to such a code, Elisha should have gone out to meet Naaman at the door of his house. And call on the name of the Lord his God - literally, “of Yahweh his God.” Naaman is aware that Yahweh is the God of Elisha.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 5:11
“Note, It is common for those that are wise in their own conceit to look with contempt on the dictates and prescriptions of divine wisdom and to prefer their own fancies before them; those that are for establishing their own righteousness will not submit to the righteousness of God, Rom. x.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
the Abanah and Pharpar: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown identify the Abanah with the Barada, and they report that Damascus still prized their water as pure and cold. John Gill notes that the marginal reading and the Targum give Amana. Gill traced the name to a mountain in Syria.
2 Kings 5:12
“Abana and Pharpar--the Barrady and one of its five tributaries--uncertain which. The waters of Damascus are still highly extolled by their inhabitants for their purity and coldness.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 5:12
“Are not Abana and Pharpar - At present these rivers do not exist by these names; and where they are we know not; nor whether they were the Orontes and Chrysorroes. Mr. Maundrell, who traveled over all this ground, could find no vestige of the names Abana and Pharpar.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Naaman's own servants reason him back with a plain argument: he would have done some great thing, so a small one deserves no less obedience. They address him as father, a servant's term of respect, and win where royal letters and talents of silver could not.
2 Kings 5:13
“My father - A title of the highest respect and affection. Had bid thee do some great thing - If the prophet had appointed thee to do something very difficult in itself, and very expensive to thee, wouldst thou not have done it? With much greater reason shouldst thou do what will occupy little time, be no expense, and is easy to be performed.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 5:13
“One would have expected that Elisha's servant should be a saint (even Ahab's servant, Obadiah, was), but even Christ himself had a Judas among his followers. The means of grace cannot give grace.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
dipped himself in the Jordan seven times: Naaman obeys “according to the word of the man of God”, and “his flesh was restored and became like that of a little child”. Seven marks completeness in these prophets' stories, from the servant's seven looks toward the sea at 1 Kings 18:43-44 to this sevenfold washing.
2 Kings 5:14
“Then went he down - He felt the force of this reasoning, and made a trial, probably expecting little success. Like unto the flesh of a little child - The loathsome scurf was now entirely removed; his flesh assumed the appearance and health of youth; and the whole mass of his blood, and other juices, became purified, refined, and exalted! How mighty is God! What great things can he do by the simplest and feeblest of means!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 5:14
“Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan--Persuaded by his calmer and more reflecting attendants to try a method so simple and easy, he followed their instructions, and was cured. The cure was performed on the basis of God's covenant with Israel, by which the land, and all pertaining to it, was blessed. Seven was the symbol of the covenant [KEIL].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Nothing taken, and two mules' burden of earth carried home
2 Kings 5:15-16
there is no God in all the earth except in Israel: Naaman comes back and confesses, “Now I know for sure that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel”. He offers a gift, and Elisha refuses with an oath Elijah used at 1 Kings 17:1, so the healing cannot be taken as bought.
2 Kings 5:15
“He returned - Naaman was grateful (compare Luk 17:15). From the Jordan to Samaria was a distance of not less than 32 miles. Naaman further went to Damascus, far out of his way, lengthening his necessary journey by at least three days. His special object in returning seems to have been to relieve his feelings of obligation by inducing the prophet to accept a “blessing,” i. e. a gift. There is no God ... - Compare the marginal references; but in none of them are the expressions quite so strong as here.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 5:15
“Had he seen other lepers cleansed, perhaps the sight would not have convinced him, but the mercy of the cure affected him more than the miracle of it. Those are best able to speak of the power of divine grace who have themselves experienced it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
before whom I stand: Adam Clarke notes that presents to great officials were customary, and prophets were counted among them. Elisha's refusal kept the Arameans from treating the cure as a paid service, and Clarke reads it as leaving all the glory to God. Naaman urged, and Elisha held firm.
2 Kings 5:16
“I will receive none - It was very common to give presents to all great and official men; and among these, prophets were always included: but as it might have appeared to the Syrians that he had taken the offered presents as a remuneration for the cure performed, he refused; for as God alone did the work, he alone should have all the glory.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
as much soil as a pair of mules can carry: Naaman asks to take Israelite soil home, reasoning that sacrifice belongs to the Lord and so cannot rightly be offered from foreign ground. The request assumes a link between a god and his land common across the ancient world. The commentators read it as Naaman's imperfect but sincere first theology.
2 Kings 5:17
“Two mules’ burden of earth - This earth, Naaman thought, spread over a portion of Syrian ground, would hallow and render it suitable for the worship of Yahweh.”
2 Kings 5:18-19
the temple of Rimmon to worship there: Naaman asks pardon in advance for bowing “in the temple of Rimmon” when his master leans on his arm. Elisha answers only, “Go in peace”. Readers have heard in the reply a prophet bearing with an old soldier's forced service, or a farewell that leaves the matter to his conscience.
2 Kings 5:18
“In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant - It is useless to enter into the controversy concerning this verse. By no rule of right reasoning, nor by any legitimate mode of interpretation, can it be stated that Naaman is asking pardon for offenses which he may commit, or that he could ask or the prophet grant indulgence to bow himself in the temple of Rimmon, thus performing a decided act of homage, the very essence of that worship which immediately before he solemnly assured the prophet he would never practice.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
2 Kings 5:18
“Rimmon - A Syrian idol, called here by the LXX, Remman, and Acts vii, 43, Remphan. My hand - Or, arm, upon which, the king leaned, either for state, or for support.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 Kings 5:18
“Perhaps, all things considered, this might admit of some apology, though it was not justifiable. But, as to us, I am sure, (1.) If, in covenanting with God, we make a reservation for any known sin, which we will continue to indulge ourselves in, that reservation is a defeasance of his covenant.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
traveled a short distance: The Targum and other Jewish writers set the short distance at about a mile, and John Gill preferred a thousand cubits, about half a mile. Albert Barnes joins the clause to the next verse. Gehazi made his plan after Naaman had gone that far.
2 Kings 5:19
“And he said unto him,.... That is, the prophet said to Naaman: go in peace: in peace of mind; be assured that God has pardoned this and all other transgressions: so he departed from him a little way; about a mile, as the Targum, and so other Jewish writers; of this phrase; see Gill on Gen 35:16, some say a land's length, that is, about one hundred and twenty feet; rather it was a thousand cubits, or half a mile.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 5:19
So he departed ... - This clause should not be separated from the succeeding verse. The meaning is, “So he departed from him, and had gone a little way, when Gehazi bethought himself of what he would do, and followed after him.”
Gehazi's greed and Naaman's leprosy
2 Kings 5:20-24
Gehazi decides that his master “has spared this Aramean” and swears “As surely as the LORD lives”, using the oath Elisha had just sworn. Naaman presses “two talents” on him, twice what Gehazi's invented story asked. Naaman's servants reasoned him into obedience, and Elisha's servant reasons himself into theft.
2 Kings 5:20
“This Syrian - A stranger, and one of that nation who are the implacable enemies of God's people. As the Lord - He swears, that he might have some pretense for the action to which he had bound himself by his oath; not considering, that to swear to do any wicked action, is so far from excusing it, that it makes it much worse.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 5:20
“His heart (says bishop Hall) was packed up in Naaman's chests, and he must run after him to fetch it. Multitudes, by coveting worldly wealth, have erred from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
got down from the chariot: A commander of Aram steps down from his chariot to meet a prophet's servant, and John Gill reads the act as honour paid to Elisha. Gill hears in Naaman's question a fear for the prophet. Matthew Henry hoped Naaman later learned that Elisha had no hand in the errand.
2 Kings 5:21
“So Gehazi followed after Naaman,.... As fast as he could: and when Naaman saw him running after him; which he might observe, looking back, or be informed of by some of his servants: he lighted down from the chariot to meet him; in honour to the prophet, whose servant he was: and said, is all well? fearing something ill had befallen Elisha; or he himself had done something wrong, which occasioned the servant to run after him.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 5:21
“We hope that he understood afterwards that Elisha's hand was not in it, and that Gehazi was forced to restore what he had unjustly got, else it might have driven him to his idols again. His seeking to conceal what he had unjustly got added much to his sin.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Gehazi answers shalom, which Adam Clarke explains as the usual greeting and reply of the day. Clarke places a school of the prophets in the hill country of Ephraim. Gehazi puts the whole request in Elisha's mouth.
2 Kings 5:22
“And he said - שלום shalom. It is peace; all is right. This was a common mode of address and answer. There be come to me from mount Ephraim - There was probably a school of the prophets at this mount.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
two talents of silver in two bags: Adam Clarke reckons a talent at about 120 pounds in weight. Two talents were a load for two men, and Naaman gave two servants to carry them. The servants walked ahead of Gehazi with the silver and the clothing.
2 Kings 5:23
“He - bound two talents of silver - It required two servants to carry these two talents, for, according to the computation above, each talent was about 120lbs. weight.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
came to the hill: The Hebrew for the hill is ophel, and Adam Clarke notes the Chaldee, Septuagint, Syriac and Arabic read it as a secret or hidden place. Clarke saw a dark deed seeking a dark place. Matthew Henry adds that the Spirit of prophecy could not be deceived.
2 Kings 5:24
“When he came to the tower - The Chaldee, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic understand the word עפל ophel, which we translate tower, as signifying a secret, dark, or hiding place. He was doing a deed of darkness, and he sought darkness to conceal it. He no doubt put them in a place little frequented, or one to which few had access besides himself. But the prophet’s discerning spirit found him out.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 5:24
“The punishment of this sin. Elisha immediately called him to an account for it; and observe, 1. He thought to impose upon the prophet, but was soon given to understand that the Spirit of prophecy could not be deceived, and that it was in vain to lie to the Holy Ghost.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Kings 5:25-27
Gehazi answers with a ready lie, “Your servant did not go anywhere”. Elisha asks whether his spirit did not go with him. The leprosy Naaman left falls on Gehazi and his descendants, passing from the foreigner who received grace freely to the Israelite who sold it.
2 Kings 5:25
“Lest his absence should be noticed, Gehazi hastened, without being called, to appear before his master. In the East it is usual for servants to remain most of the day in their lord’s presence, only quitting it when given some order to execute.”
Is this the time to accept: John Wesley reads the olive groves, vineyards, flocks and servants as the estate Gehazi meant to buy with the silver. Elisha knew the plan as well as the act. The Targum renders the first question as knowledge given by the prophetic spirit, as Adam Clarke and John Gill both note.
2 Kings 5:26
“Went not mine heart with thee - The Chaldee gives this a good turn: By the prophetic spirit it was shown unto me, when the man returned from his chariot to meet thee. Is it a time to receive money - He gave him farther proof of this all-discerning prophetic spirit in telling him what he designed to do with the money; he intended to set up a splendid establishment, to have men-servants and maid-servants, to have oliveyards and vineyards, and sheep and oxen, This, as the Chaldee says, he had thought in his heart to do.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
John Wesley takes forever to mean for some generations, and he calls the white leprosy the worst kind, which physicians held to be incurable. Matthew Henry notes that Gehazi had planned to leave lands to his heirs and left them a disease. The sentence took effect at once.
2 Kings 5:27
“The leprosy of Naaman - shall cleave unto thee - Thou hast got much money, and thou shalt have much to do with it. Thou hast got Naaman’s silver, and thou shalt have Naaman’s leprosy. Gehazi is not the last who has got money in an unlawful way, and has got God’s curse with it. A leper as white as snow - The moment the curse was pronounced, that moment the signs of the leprosy began to appear. The white shining spot was the sign that the infection had taken place.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
2 Kings 5:27
“He was contriving to entail lands upon his posterity; but, instead of them, he entails a loathsome disease on the heirs of his body, from generation to generation. The sentence was immediately executed on himself; no sooner said than done: He went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Kings 5:27
“For ever - That is, for some generations; as that word is often used and as may be thought by comparing this with Exod. xx, 55. (?) White - Which is the worst kind of leprosy, and noted by physicians to be incurable.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: A self-contained miracle account built as a ring, opened by a servant who tells the truth and closed by a servant who lies, as Kings classes it.
A A captive Israelite girl points her master to the prophet
2 Kings 5:1-4
B A king reads a letter and despairs; the prophet sends for the man
2 Kings 5:5-8
C Naaman is angry at the plainness of the command and turns away
2 Kings 5:9-12
X He dips seven times in the Jordan and his flesh comes again clean
2 Kings 5:13-14
C′ Naaman returns confessing there is no God but in Israel
2 Kings 5:15
B′ Elisha refuses payment; Naaman asks for earth to worship on
2 Kings 5:16-19
A′ Gehazi takes the payment in secret and carries away the leprosy
2 Kings 5:20-27
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The ring around the Jordan | This site publishes one chiasm for the whole book and it is over this chapter, marked proposed rather than asserted. The reading notes that the chapter opens with a captive Israelite servant who speaks the truth and closes with an Israelite servant who lies, framing the cleansing at the centre. The status field says proposed and this row keeps that word.This site's published structure for 2 Kings, src/components/book/dossier-content/2-kings.ts, the chiasms entry, whose own source is given as the concentric reading widely observed in commentary on 2 Kings 5. | 2 Kings 5:1, 2 Kings 5:13, 2 Kings 5:20 |
| But he was a leper | Naaman is introduced with every mark of greatness a court could give, captain of the host, honourable, mighty in valour, and credited with a victory the text says the LORD himself gave. This site's published exposition note on 5:1 to 5:3 records that the whole report turns on one clause at the end of the verse.Matthew Henry and Albert Barnes, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, and Notes on the Old Testament, 1832 to 1869, on 2 Kings 5:1 to 5:3, as this site's published exposition note on those verses reports them. | 2 Kings 5:1 |
| The servants who are right and the servants who are not | Three servants move the chapter and the great men do not. The captive girl speaks the one true word at 5:3, Naaman's own servants reason him back at 5:13 with the argument that he would have done some great thing without complaint, and Gehazi reasons himself into theft at 5:20. This site's published exposition note on 5:13 records that the turn comes from men with no rank at all, and the note on 5:25 to 5:27 records the two servants framing Naaman's story at both ends.Matthew Henry and John Gill, with John Wesley, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, and Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765, on 2 Kings 5:13 and 5:20 to 5:24, as this site's published exposition notes on those verses report them. | 2 Kings 5:3, 2 Kings 5:13, 2 Kings 5:20 |
| As the LORD lives, sworn twice | Elisha refuses the payment at 5:16 with the oath Elijah used at 1 Kings 17:1, as the LORD lives before whom I stand. Gehazi swears by the same name at 5:20 to justify taking what his master would not. This site's published exposition note on 5:20 to 5:24 marks the reuse, that Gehazi swears by the same name Elisha had just sworn by.Keil and Delitzsch, with Matthew Henry and John Wesley, The Books of the Kings, 1872, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, and Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765, on 2 Kings 5:15 to 5:24, as this site's published exposition notes on those verses report them. | 2 Kings 5:16, 2 Kings 5:20, 1 Kings 17:1 |
The New Testament's use
10 more paragraphs on the patterns
This is the one chapter in the Elisha cycle the New Testament cites by name, and it does so twice over in a single verse. This site's published exposition notes on 5:1 to 5:3 and on 5:14 both record that Jesus names Naaman at Luke 4:27 and sets him against the many lepers in Israel in Elisha's own day.
This site's published study guide states what the citation is doing. In its Christ table it records that Jesus cites Naaman in the Nazareth sermon as the historical precedent for grace reaching past Israel, and it marks that as the sharpest of the likenesses between Elisha's miracles and the Gospels, because it is the one the Gospels themselves draw. A student comparing the two cycles has here a citation rather than a resemblance.
The unresolved request, and the answer that gives no verdict
Naaman makes two requests after his confession and the chapter resolves neither. This site's published exposition note on 5:17 records the first, the two mules' burden of Israelite earth, and states that the text records the conviction without Elisha correcting or approving it. The same note reads the request as assuming a link between a god and his land common across the ancient world, and records the commentators reading it as Naaman's imperfect but sincere first theology rather than as instruction the chapter endorses.
The second is the house of Rimmon. This site's published exposition note on 5:18 to 5:19 records that Naaman asks pardon in advance for bowing there when duty requires supporting his master's arm, and that Elisha answers only, go in peace, neither granting permission nor withholding it. The note states the division among readers plainly: some hear a prophet excusing an old soldier's unavoidable service, others hear a farewell that leaves the conscience where it found it, and the verse gives no verdict either way. This row states none either.
The number, and what the text lets it do
The instruction is to wash seven times and the cure comes at the seventh. This site's published exposition note on 5:14 records that the number marks completeness across the whole ministry of Elijah and Elisha, from the servant's seven looks toward the sea at 1 Kings 18:43 to 18:44 to this sevenfold dip, and that the text lets the number do its own work without comment. The same note records the result as a full reversal rather than an improvement, flesh come again like the flesh of a little child.
The exchange at the end
The closing verses move one thing in each direction. This site's published exposition note on 5:25 to 5:27 records that the leprosy Naaman left behind in the Jordan falls on Gehazi and his seed, the same disease moving from the Syrian who received grace freely to the Israelite who tried to sell it. The note also records the mechanism of the exposure, that Elisha's question meets a lie already prepared and that Elisha answers his heart went with Gehazi to the meeting the servant thought private.
This site's published exposition note on 5:20 to 5:24 adds the detail that makes the theft worse rather than better: Naaman presses two talents on Gehazi rather than the one he asked for, doubling the very gift Gehazi invented a pretext to request.
Keep studying
Studies8
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
The form-critical reading, as this site's published study guide states it, src/components/book/guides/2-kings/Book2KingsGuide.tsx, the CONTESTED table on the Elisha miracle cycle, whose flag states that form does not determine historicity; This site's published chiasm for 2 Kings, src/components/book/dossier-content/2-kings.ts, the chiasms entry titled Naaman the Syrian (5:1 to 27), whose status field reads proposed and This site's published study guide to 2 Kings, src/components/book/guides/2-kings/Book2KingsGuide.tsx, the Christ table, which records that Jesus cites Naaman in his Nazareth sermon at Luke 4:27 as the historical precedent for grace reaching past Israel.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; F. W. Farrar, The Second Book of Kings (Expositor's Bible); Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.